


Growing Wings

by cinnamxn



Category: Saiyuki, Saiyuki Gaiden
Genre: Animal Death, Friendship, Gen, Imprisonment, Little Yellow Bird
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 03:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9801110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnamxn/pseuds/cinnamxn
Summary: Goku meets a shy and homeless god,





	

A small, yellow bird flaps its wings furiously, trying to fly against the heavy snowfall. Its yellow feathers are frosted over; its beak no longer able to open. Despite the danger, the bird, no bigger than the fists of a small child, pushes forward through the impossible weather.

After the long and cold journey, the yellow bird collapses within a stone prison, carved into the side of the mountains. As its body touches the ground, the bird’s adventure had come to an end – leaving it safe from the blistering storm.

A small boy with hair like an oak mane picks up the bird. Cradling it within his calloused fingers, he brushes flakes of ice from the sunshine feathers, and brings it close to his body for what little warmth he can provide. Despite his lack of knowledge of anything beyond snow, his natural instincts tell him that warmth is important for a creature so shivering and small. Slowly the bird begins to sing, delighting the young heretic who had been there for so long, alone. His golden eyes sparkle as he places the bird in the middle of the cage they would share henceforth.

In the days that follow, each time the demon prisoner awakens, the bird flies around the cage, almost as if it were showing off. He giggles as the bird swoops around his head; it is the first time he had been happy in over four hundred and fifty years. He smiles as the bird excitedly flaps its wings, and he holds out his finger as a branch to perch on. Within the warmth of an ancient prison, the bird’s feathers are soft and comforting. For the first time, the jailed demon thinks so powerfully of a word – a concept – that it aches his heart: ‘friend’. After centuries of loneliness, he finally had a friend to add golden sunshine to his cold, dull life.

All goes well, until one morning, Goku wakes up to hear the bird had stopped singing. He had fallen asleep, on the cold floor of his cage – the prison ensured he would not need to sleep, but the habit never left him, and he kept it so the days would seem shorter. Goku sits up, rubbing his eyes free of mucus, ready to watch the excitable bird fly around in circles. His smile disappears when he notices something just outside his prison.

He sees small lump of pale yellow feathers, slowly being buried by the falling snow.

Desperate, he reaches out for it, pushing his arm out as far as he can reach from within the confines of the cage. The demon grunts as his hand touches ice only inches away from the bird, and he leans against the stone prison with such force, the pieces of scripture attached to the bars make his arm sting. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot retrieve the bird, or even touch its soft, yellow feathers.

Frustrated and alone the prisoner bursts into tears, sobbing loudly as he continues his attempts to reach for the bird. All reason left him. He only wanted his friend back.

 

* * *

 

**About 500 years earlier:**

A young heretic runs through the gardens of Heaven. His long brown hair whips in the air behind him and the heavy chains around his wrists rattle to announce his presence to passersby. A huge, mischievous face is plastered on his face as he searches for his friend, Nataku, who he wants to tell his name to. His golden eyes sparkle as he sees a figure by the fountain.

Running now, Goku makes his way towards the figure. It takes a while before his mind registers that it is not Nataku. The figure is way too small, and his clothes are wrong. Goku slows as he approaches the figure. To him, it meant that he may have to wait even longer before he tells Nataku about his name. This makes him upset, but he accepts it willingly, and he continues to approach the strange figure regardless.

The small stranger turns to look at Goku. Upon meeting a new face, one with shackled wrists and burning eyes, he stiffened. The child is covered in mud and dirt from head to toe. It covers his round face and is stuck in his short, pale blonde hair, clumping it in dirty tufts. The cloth wrapped around his body is even messier,

Goku smiles at him, and the boy's posture loosens at the act of friendliness. He pouts, embarrassed, and uses his toes to scratch at the dirt.

"Hi! I'm Goku!" The heretic explains. The delight at meeting someone new tugs his mouth into a gleaming grin.

"Ch..." The kid struggles, perplexing the heretic boy. "Chuni... Chuni..." He bites his lip and looks to the floor. A long bang falls into his eye and he makes an odd gasping noise.

Filling his lungs with air, he forces the word out. "Chuniao!" He shouts, meeting Goku's golden eyes as he burst his introduction. When Goku seems confused he ducks again, hiding his face. "My... Name is.... Chuniao..."

Goku chuckles.

Still looking shyly at the ground, Chuniao tucks his arms behind his back. "That's a cool name!" Goku shouts, regaining the focus of the younger boy. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

After a long time of digging in the dirt with his toes Chuniao finally answers: he says he is trying to fly.

"Fly..?" At the question from Goku, Chuniao nods shyly. He pulls his arms from behind his back, gripping the ends of the faded yellow cloth knotted around him. He holds the lengths of cloth at his side, mimicking a pair of wings.

"I don't have...." He swallows before continuing, "Wings. Yet... But someday... If I keep on... believing, maybe... I will grow some." This announcement catches Goku's interest.

"Hey, Chuniao! Can you wait here for a minute?!" Goku asked, to which Chuniao nodded slowly.

Goku ran off, away from the large fountain; the way he had come.

Chuniao sits at the fountain's edge, dipping his feet into the ice cold water. He giggles as he lets his feet swish through the water, rippling the surface. He stands in the fountain, the ends of the rag he wears becoming submerged. He holds his "wings" out at his sides, and runs laps around the fountain. Water splashes and floods the grass around it as he closes his eyes, pretending the water is a storm cloud, filled with condensation and ready to burst.

For a moment, he feels the sun rays on his mucky skin and the wind pushing his hair into his eyes. He refuses to open his eyes, afraid it might shatter the illusion of a place more heavenly than Heaven itself.

A large splash scares away his dream. Opening his eyes, he finds Goku beside him, covered in water and holding a long white piece of cloth out at his side. Just like the poor god had, Goku held the cloth out to appear like wings.

Chuniao smiles his excitement.

"Fuh...." He struggles. "Ffffffffhhhh"

Goku cocks his head with puppy-like curiousity, waiting for the child to speak.

"Friends!" Chuniao shouts, his voice loud and high pitched. Goku smiles, but then realization crosses his face.

Goku smiles. "Yeah, I like that. Umm..." He turns his head as if expecting to see somebody. "Have you seen a kid about the same size as me? I wanted to tell him my name..."

Chuniao shakes his head furiously and bites his bottom lip. Goku already looks ready to leave, and having only just made this new friend, Chuniao does not want him to leave. He reaches for Goku's hand in an attempt to keep him still.

"Sorry Chuniao, I need to go. You could come with me if you want! Wouldn't that be fun!?" Chuniao looks up at the heretic, and the look in Chuniao's eyes seems somehow familiar. Goku remembers meeting Konzen for the first time, and the wild fascination he had with the older male. Konzen was like a sun, to Goku. And sunset was on the horizon, so the sun will fade.

But Goku knows the sun always rises again.

"I ca- I ca- nnn't." Chuniao complains, and he tries to hold Goku in place, with his small fingers around Goku's wrist.

"Then, I'll be back tomorrow, okay!" Goku exclaimed, easily prying the small hands from his so they would not weigh him down – the chains on his wrist were already heavier than the child god. Then, Goku begins to walk away, giving a grin and a wave, completely oblivious to the damage done. The smaller boy is left by the fountain, his cloth dripping wet and his _wings_ drooping. Chuniao watches his only friend leave him behind, and makes his way back to the cherry blossoms. Just like Goku did, the sun eventually leaves him alone and night had fallen by the time he makes it back to the trees.

There, Chuniao rolls himself up in the cloth he wears, using the _wings_ to keep him warm, despite the dampness of them. He rolls into a ball beneath the tree, and soon fell asleep, ready to wake up when the sun returns.

No family, no home, and perhaps no friends. Heaven truly could be a cruel place. Someday, his homelessness and foodlessness would lead the tiny god’s stomach to fail, and his breath would catch as his heart failed. When that happened, Chuniao would fly down to Earth, where society was less cruel.


End file.
